The Peristyle
On Gingerguide's self-guided Split audio tour, The Peristyle is a stop worth about ~20 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type square
- Suggested visit ~20 min
- Split Split guide
About The Peristyle
The palace's grand ceremonial court, where subjects once bowed to an emperor beneath red Egyptian columns, and where you can now drink coffee on the same seventeen-hundred-year-old steps.
The Peristyle is the colonnaded ceremonial court at the centre of Diocletian's Palace, laid out where the complex's two main Roman streets met. It formed the monumental approach to the imperial apartments, the mausoleum and the temples, and its arcades rest on monolithic columns of red granite quarried at Aswan in Egypt, several imported ready-carved with their Corinthian capitals. From a raised platform, the protiron, before the vestibule, Diocletian presented himself to his subjects under the title Jovius, associating his rule with the protection of Jupiter.
Beside the court stands a black granite Egyptian sphinx from the reign of Thutmose III, around the fifteenth century BC, one of roughly a dozen sphinxes Diocletian brought from Egypt, of which only a few survive. Today the Peristyle is a café-lined public square where visitors rest on cushions over the ancient steps, and it serves as an open-air stage for the city's summer festival and concerts.
Did you know? The red granite columns ringing the court were quarried at Aswan in Egypt and shipped across the Mediterranean, some arrived already carved, complete with their Corinthian capitals, ready to raise.
How much time do you need at The Peristyle?
Around ~20 min works well for The Peristyle — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at The Peristyle?
Yes — The Peristyle made the cut as one of 20 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Split. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Split
Day 1 of the Split in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of The Peristyle
Preview the Split tour free in the Gingerguide app.